


What Lurks In The Woods

by s_oftboys



Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Eventual Romance, M/M, Supernatural Elements, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 05:54:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16279010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s_oftboys/pseuds/s_oftboys
Summary: An alternate Villainous universe where Dementia and 5.0.5's presence is non-existent, Flug is a young college student, and Blackhat has a dreadful secret.This series contains romance, action, suspense, drama, and slight horror elements.  Teen and up reading audiences recommended.





	1. Anthropophobia

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!! Thank you for choosing to read this series of mine!!  
> I'm actually relatively new to writing Villainous works, and really nervous about it, since I don't generally work with horror and supernatural elements, and I'd appreciate it if you let me know I'm doing a good job so far and/or you wanna see more of this with a Comment and/or Kudos!!  
> Really any feedback is greatly appreciated!!

**Anthropophobia**

**_\- the fear of people or the company of people, a form of social phobia_**

 

My name is Flug Slys.  I am a 5'6" strawberry blonde male, 20 years of age, with bright blue-green eyes.  I'm dreadfully pale, with freckles on my cheeks, nose, shoulders, thighs...pretty much everywhere, really.

I would be living in an actual house I'm helping to pay for, alongside my mom - or even on my own - but she's a huge homophobe.  I can't stand her, so I refuse to talk to, visit, or borrow money from her - basically boycotting my mom.  So instead I stand outside my college dorm building, lugging around a pastel blue backpack, carrying my white 3-inch binder close to my chest with both arms.

I see a slick, expensive-looking black car round the corner and come down the road towards me.  I gulp.  The car stops in front of me, and the front passenger-seat door pops open.

My new boss - my first boss - looks at me with narrow eyes.  This look is not impatience nor loathing; it's simply bright, despite being a late autumn afternoon.

"Hop in," he growls, his smoker's voice dreadfully evident; it's almost like someone dragging their nails on a chalkboard.  "Feel free to dump your stuff in the backseat."

I silently - nervously - comply, opening a rear-passenger door, gently putting my nearly 30 pounds of stuff in only one backseat, not wanting to take up the entirety of the back of the car.  I sit down in the front-passenger seat - right next to my boss - and buckle myself in.  And we were off.

And then came the deafening silence.  I began wringing my hands, over and over.  My boss glances over at me.

"So...college student.  Don't remember you listing that on your resume," he mumbles.

My face flushes.  "Well, um, I didn't think it was worth writing down because I'm getting my Associate's degree in a couple months."

"And you're stopping there??  You're halfway to a Bachelor's, which opens up a thousand more career opportunities for you."

"I-I know, but...I don't wanna be stuck in school for a while."

"Stuck??"

"I don't wanna risk failing a year or more and having to spend more time there.  My classes have been easy enough, I'm basically guaranteed my Associate's, so I'm willing to settle for that."

He isn't looking at me, he's watching the road, but I can see his brow furrow as if he doesn't understand my reasoning.

And the silence comes back.  I notice a thick clump of jet-black fur on the floor of the car.  I dare to break the silence.

"Do you have a dog??"

He hardens; his jaw tightens, he straightens his back, his brow furrows again.  "Used to."

"Do you mind if I ask what happened to them??"

He tightens his grip on the steering wheel.  "I do mind.  Don't ask again."

I look down at my hands, folded in my lap.  "Oh.  Sorry."  I'm quieter than even I expect.

He relaxes a little.  "It's okay.  Just...please don't ask."

I slowly nod.

The car suddenly jostles, and I grip the edges of my seat.

"Sorry," he mumbles, "I forgot to take a more scenic route to avoid this road."

I still feel bad about the dog thing, so I merely nod again and hold tight as the car continuously jostles for almost a minute straight.  When we finally get back on flat road, I feel nauseous.  I shake it off, though, and I'm hit with an entirely new feeling as my boss parks in front of his home and my new - first - workplace.


	2. Megalophobia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, here's another installment of my current series!! I had the first few chapters pre-written and posted on deviantART already, so that's why these chapters are posted on the same day. I'm not that prolific of a writer, unfortunately.  
> The next chapter(Chapter 4: Scolionophobia) is well on it's way to completion, however, so stay tuned!!  
> Really any feedback, whether it's Comments or Kudos, is greatly appreciated!!

**Megalophobia**

**_\- the morbid and irrational fear of large objects, also including buildings and animals_**

 

I step out of my boss' car, and I just now notice how tall he really is.  He's got to be at least 6 feet tall, which is insanely tall compared to me.

I toss my backpack over my shoulder and and take my binder in both arms.  I turn to the house and my jaw drops.

His house is _immense._   It's 4 or 5 stories tall, made of dark gray wood, with a pitch-black shingled roof.  The front and sides of the house is lined with tall, column-esque bushes, filled with vibrant red roses.  The windows are decently sized, with large windowsills, perfect for letting potted plants soak in sunlight, each with blood-red curtains, all pulled to hide the inside of the mansion from anyone passing by.  Not that anyone would be passing by, since the house is at the end of a long road - that branches off of a main street - just barely wide enough for one car to drive along, surrounded by a thick layer of tall oaks, pines, and spruces, the trunks lined with vines, the shrubs and the occasional flower covering nearly all of the forest ground.

He glances over at me.  "Surprised??"

His voice briefly shakes me from my awe.  "Yeah..."

"Well, I promise it's not as dreary on the inside."

And with that, he starts down the thin, cobblestone pathway, leading up to the front porch and door.  I follow silently a few steps behind him, still in awe with the size and impressiveness of his home.  When he reaches the door, he unlocks and opens it.  Before stepping inside, he reaches out and grazes the petals of a single rose with his fingertips.

He and I step inside, and again I'm dumbstruck.

The living room is huge.  The wallpaper is black and white striped, the carpet a plain white, with a purplish-red - a close cousin to burgundy and wine - velvet sofa and 2 matching high-backed chairs, one to the left of the sofa, and the other to the right.  There's a coffee table in the center of the furniture, with a glass tabletop and ebony legs, with a stack of thick books and a separate stack of folders - chocked full of papers - on it.  The chairs and sofa are all facing towards a magnificent brick fireplace, which sits below a large, wall-mounted flat-screen TV.

"See??  Not nearly as dark," he says, smiling.

"Yeah.  It's really nice," I say semi-blankly, spotting all the subtle details.  The cobwebs in the ceiling corners, the lingering specks of dust, illuminated by the sun, drifting through the window curtains.

"Thank you.  Cost quite a fortune, but it's worth it.  There's still quite a lot of the house to explore, but for now, I'll just show you to your room - if you want it - and your office."

"You have a room for me??"

"Yes, since I know from personal experience - having spent 7 years in a college dorm myself - that your living arrangements are quite cramped and not as good for study as one might think at a cursory glance.  You don't have to use it if you don't want to, however.  I'll still drive you back and forth."

"That's...very generous.  Thank you."

"It's no problem.  I just understand the struggles of a college student and wish to help."

I nod.

"Well, to your room."  He says, leading the way through a doorway, down a short hall, and up a set of stairs, and then down another, longer hall, and stopping in front of a door.  "Right here.  2nd floor, 5th door to the right."

I nod again, not really knowing what to say.

He promptly opens the door and steps inside, and I follow silently behind him.

My room seems strangely modest compared to the rest of the house.  The wallpaper and carpet is the same as the rest of the house, and the single bed across from the door, the head of which is against the wall, has a thick, black and red tile-pattern comforter and a ridiculous amount of fluffy, plush white pillows.  On another wall, to the right of the bed, is a jet-black ebony dresser, with 3 drawers and shining - almost glittering - golden handles.  On the opposite wall of the dresser, there's an ebony desk, along with a matching chair, which was equipped with velvet padding.  On the desk is a silver laptop, a manila folder, and a packet.

"What's all that on the desk??  Why'd you buy me a laptop specifically for my room??"

"You'll be able to check it all out later.  And it isn't brand-new, unfortunately; I simply wiped it clean of all my information and programs so you can use it.  It's barely a year old, though, and high-quality, so it should run smoothly as long as you don't bog it down too much.  I thought it would be useful for your studies."

"Oh.  Thank you.  There wasn't anything important on that that you got rid of??"

"I made sure to move all important files over to my office computer, don't worry."

"Okay.  Good."  I sound blank, apathetic, but I can't think of anything to say.  I'm probably just annoying.  He seems like the kind of guy who'd be annoyed easily.

"Would you like a moment to explore your room, or would you like to see your office??"

"Office, I guess."

"Alright, follow me."  And just like that, he's off again, his long legs carrying him faster than I can jog.  I struggle to keep up with him up a set of stairs and through numerous hallways.  By the time he finally reaches the door to my office, I'm panting, almost 10 feet behind him.  I may be thin, but I'm not an athlete in the slightest; I've got asthma, man.

He turns are stares at me, concerned.  "I didn't know I was walking that fast.  Sorry."

"It's...it's okay..." I choke out.  "I have shorter...shorter legs than normal, anyway, so...so it's no big deal."

"I'll still try to walk slower."

"I...I'd appreciate that."

He sighs, and says, "Well, here's your office."

I finally catch up to him, and wait before the door.  He opens the door and steps inside, and I follow him.

My office is actually pretty calm and professional looking.  In the center there's an ebony desk, with a PC, monitor, keyboard, mouse, all shiny and new, along with another packet of paper on top.  The desk is matched with a jet-black swivel chair, with an almost unbelievable amount of padding.  On a wall, to the right of the desk, is a note board, complete with thumbtacks to stick my notes and ideas on said board.  To the left of the desk there's 3 bookcases, almost completely lining the wall, jam-packed with books of all sizes and colors, all hard-backs.

I step further inside and run my hand along the top of the PC case.

"Like it??  Now _that_ computer's brand-new, since my office computer was the only desktop PC I had."

I look up at him.  "How much did it cost??"

He waves my question off dismissively.  "Don't worry about how much anything I got for you costs.  Money is no big issue to me.  I've only made a small dent in what I received in my father's will."

"...Your father died??"

"Not yet - though he is currently on his deathbed, according to the doctors - but he made sure his lawyer got all of the parts of the will to do with inheritance done before he passed, due to his condition."

"Condition??"

He sighs, suddenly refusing to meet my gaze.  I immediately feel bad for asking.

".....Cancer."

I flinch.  I feel even worse.  "I...I'm so sorry."

He turns, his back to me.  "It...it's fine."

And he shuts the door.  He doesn't slam it, but I still flinch when I hear it close.  I feel so bad.  Why do I ask all the hurtful questions??

I sit down at my desk, and pick up the packet.  It's chocked full of rules for my office PC use; no social media, unless it's for company advertisement, so no personal social media profiles; no affiliation with company competitors; no porn or 18+ sites; I have full right to check your browser history if it's suspected you've broken any of these rules; etc. etc.  I turn on the PC and monitor.  The mouse and the keyboard light up with special LED tech as the system starts up.  I log in with information included in the packet and check out the browser.  Google Chrome's already set up and everything.

I lean back.  What am I supposed to do again??  I pick the packet back up, and finally find the list of things I'm supposed to be doing to actually get paid.  Oh geez, I've got a weekly quota of things that need to get done and everything.  Currently I'm only supposed to be handling business relations and spreading word about the company.  If I'm handling business relations, I guess I'll need an email??  So I set an email up really quick with a pretty professional name and do all the basic things it asks me to do; pick a theme, attach a phone number and recovery email, add contacts, all that stuff.

I peer at the door and wonder where he's gone.  I don't even know what to call him in the workplace.  I don't want to disturb him, though.  I've already done and asked enough.

I log off for the day, shutting the PC and monitor off, watching the LED colors slowly fade.  I stand and walk over to the bookcases.  I run my finger along the spine of one; not interesting.  I find another, not interesting either.  I find a couple more, none of which seem appealing.  Why are all the books in here so dry and boring??  I need to bring some of my own books from my dorm room and replace them.

I wander out of my office and slowly find my way back to my room.  I flick the light switch, the whole room being entirely enveloped in darkness.  I kick off my sneakers, take off my hoodie, and blindly feel my way over to and slip into my bed, sinking down in the mattress nearly to the very frame.  Everything is as soft - or even softer - as it looked when I saw it earlier.

I sigh, close my eyes, and I'm off to sleep.


	3. Lupophobia #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goddamn wolves, they just won't shut up...!! So Flug, woken in the middle of the night, marches out into the woods and encounters the territorial predators face-to-face, and animal-preserving Flug is just a little too stubborn to actually run.  
> His scare tactics don't quite work on the two 140+ lb. predators, however, but one seems to be at least partially on his side; whether the wolf can actually experience pity, or he wishes to eat the college student at some point, we'll never know.  
> ...Or will we...??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! Thank you for reading this update to my series!!  
> Honestly, I haven't been sleeping well lately because I have a 3-day weekend and wanna get a lot done, so I don't really have anything to say, unfortunately.  
> Still, if you like this, a Comment and/or Kudos would be really appreciated!! Really just any feedback is fine!!

**Lupophobia**

**_\- a fear of wolves and/or werewolves_**

 

I don't get to sleep long, though.  Some god-awful howling starts up around 3 AM, keeping me tossing and turning, thinking about all the ways I could get those damn dogs to shut up, until I finally stand, put on my big honking glasses, and step to the window, peering out.

It's pitch-black, as expected.  I can barely see the columns of rose bushes not 25 feet below me against the side of the house.  I can see the tips of the trees, sharp silhouettes breaching the dark blue-purple, star-speckled sky, nearly touching the moon itself.  I can see the lawn, a deep, emerald green, the individual blades of grass already glistening with dew like tiny gems scattered all over the yard.

I wrap myself in a soft bathrobe I find in the bathroom - connected to the bedroom - and step out of my room, struggling to find my way through my demon boss' enormous, dark house.  I finally find the living room and front door, unlocking it and stepping outside, keeping the door just a tad bit open with one of my boss' shoes.  I step out onto the lawn, towards the edge of the wall of trees and brambles, and peer between two big hunks of tree-stump.  Can't see shit; great.

Instead of just holding the damn thing closed, I tie the special little ribbon thing on my bathrobe around my waist, holding it closed for me, and delve into the trees.  I fight through countless bushes, nearly fall flat on my face about 12 billion times from all the goddamn vines, and finally break through into a small clearing.  I look around, squinting as hard as I can, but can barely see past the trees surrounding me.

I hear another howl, this time within 100 feet of me.  I stumble back from where I thought I had heard the howl come from, and trip over a rock.  I land flat on my ass, and sit there for a moment, and see a pair of amber eyes, shooting daggers at me from where they sat, between two trees, everything around them pure black.  I slowly stand, and carefully step back, holding my hands up at the eyes, which narrowed as I got farther away.  I saw another pair of eyes, emerald green, with the same hypnotizing, glittering sheen as the amber pair, appear through another pair of trees to my right.

I saw the eyes meet gazes, and I saw teeth; so, so many teeth.  Bared, snarling, drool dripping from the fanged maws.  They're gonna fight, they're gonna kill each other, I just know it; I can't let them do that.

I take a deep breath, and shout, "Get _away_ from each other, _this_ instant!!"

Both dogs jump, and step back.

"Yeah, you better take me seriously!!  I'm not scared to smack either of you with a stick you...you mutts!!"

I would never hit either of the dogs, of course, and calling them mutts is just _mean_ , but I need them to stay away from each other.  I refuse to let them tear each other apart.  They're beautiful, majestic beasts, and they don't deserve to die that way.  The amber-eyed dog backs further away, but the green eyes narrow, as if calling my bluff.

The green eyes suddenly turn into a full-blown dog - no, not dog, _wolf_ \- in a mere second that is now on top of me.  The silver coat shimmers in the moonlight, silky and beautiful.  The silver paws pin me to the ground; he probably weighs around 130 pounds or more.  The emerald eyes are now so incredibly close, I could reach out and poke him in either eye.  But I wouldn't do that; that's just cruel.

Wait, why am I not screaming in pure, unfiltered terror??  This wolf's about to rip out my throat or tear my head clean off and I'm thinking about his eyes??  His coat??  How heavy he is??  Wow, those eyes really are hypnotizing.

I try to fight my arms away from under the fluffy monster's gigantic paws, but he isn't letting me go anywhere.  I struggle some more, but the giant beast on top of me effortlessly holds me in place.  The jaws slowly open, revealing the teeth once more, and wolf-drool drips onto my chest.  Welp, I'm fucked.

Then, out of the blue - or, should I say, black - comes the 2nd, amber-eyed wolf, it's coat an ebony black, streaked with silver, like a dog that's grown on in years.  The coat is sleek, reflecting the moonlight like a lake, a multitude of scars on nearly every part of it's body.  The teeth, hued with an odd shade of green, are bared, and sink into the shoulder of the silver one, knocking the beast off of me and sending them both tumbling across the clearing.  The black one rears his head, glaring down at the silver wolf beneath him, and sinks his teeth in again as the silver wolf drags his claws across the haunches of the black one.  I quickly stood, looking around for a branch, or anything to jam between their maws and get them to stop fighting.  I reach up, take a hold of a decently-wide branch, and break it off with one clean, quick yank.  I walk up to the brawling beasts, and stick the branch in the black wolf's jaws.  The black wolf bites down on the branch instead of the silver wolf, and breaks a whole foot of branch off of the end and spits it out, turning on me.  He steps half-off of the silver wolf, growling and snarling at me, and I back up.  This is the one who saved me, I don't need him being what eventually kills me, too.

The black wolf proceeds to back me up, until I'm deep in the thick of the forest.  When he finally stops, he turns and runs in a zig-zag formation, disappearing in a moment, his ginormous paws taking him through the dense brush faster than I could sprint down a hill.  I look around me, and finally find another clearing.  I break through the shrubs and vines and trees and find out I've ended back up at the house.  I spin back towards the brush, and squint again, trying to find any sign of the wolves, but I can't see anything, just like before.

I sigh, and step back into the house, taking my boss' shoe out of the doorway and re-locking the front door.  I make my way back up to my bedroom, toss my bathrobe into the hamper, and step into the bathroom.  I flick on the light, and look at myself in the mirror.  Bags under my eyes, as usual.  I turn off the bathroom light, and slip back into bed.  As I take off my glasses and put them on the nightstand next to my bed, I hear a single, nearby howl, lasting nearly a full minute.  I sit up, and I see a smudge of black, silver, and amber out on the lawn, which waits, watching me, then turns and walks back into the forest.

I wait, watching the edge of the forest, then my eyes flutter, and I flop back onto my bed, out cold in a second.


End file.
